He got down well while partially unsighted to paw a Shola Ameobi effort wide in the first half and then, with the scores still level early in added time, the Romanian came out to meet Papiss Cisse and stood firm to make a strong save.

That latter intervention was picked out by home manager Alan Pardew as the key moment of the match, giving City the platform to secure passage to the quarter-finals via goals from Alvaro Negredo and Edin Dzeko.

The focus on the under-pressure Hart was inevitable, but Pellegrini did little to fan the flames around England's number one.

While he stopped short of guaranteeing a return to the starting XI against Norwich on Saturday, he also declined to anoint Pantilimon as his successor.

"He is a very good goalkeeper and he normally plays in the League Cup and the FA Cup," Pellegrini said. "This was a very important match for him. But I will start to think about the game against Norwich on Thursday. Today I was just thinking about winning this match.

"I think that we will talk tomorrow [about the team selection]. One goalkeeper can play but the other will have our full support. We will think about it."

Pressed for further details about Hart's standing, Pellegrini responded curtly: "I have just told you I will think about that tomorrow."

There was more praise, again slightly muted, from Dzeko.

"He was great, he's been working hard in training. It's his second clean sheet in the Capital One Cup so he's definitely improving," said the striker, who secured City's win by rounding Tim Krul at the end of the first period of added time.

Pellegrini was also able to react for the first time to news that CSKA Moscow had been hit by a partial stadium closure for their next Champions League fixture as a result of racist chanting against Yaya Toure.

"It is a country where the next World Cup (after 2014) will be played," he said. "It is an important way to finish those things. I don't know if there was less severity or more severity (in the sanction) but UEFA have three levels of punishment and this is the first but I can't tell you more than that."